Back-to-back Grammy award-winner Roberta Flack was onthe phone with us a few hours before the annual Grammysceremony last month. She wasn't attending — the call camefrom her home in Barbados — and she wasn't even sure shewould watch the show.

"I'm not sure I can get it down here," Flack said, "and Icouldn't sit down that long even when I was going to thoseshows."

Grammys may be old hat for Flack; however, evenwhen she doesn't attend, her presence often still permeatesthe glittering music halls. This year, for instance, thegolden child of the evening was hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill --once leader of the Fugees, a band that just two years agolaunched its formidable career by covering one of Flack'ssignature early '70s hits, "Killing Me Softly With HisSong."

Flack herself has a unique place in Grammy history. In1972, she took home trophies for Record of the Year andSong of the Year for her recording of Ewan MacColl's "TheFirst Time Ever I Saw Your Face." She also shared a trophyfor Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group that year withDonny Hathaway for the duet "Where Is the Love." That alonewas a nice haul, but the very next year Flack returned tocollect three more statuettes for "Killing Me Softly" — anunheard-of one-two punch.

Then what happened? Well, therein lies the rub, as wellas what makes a musical artist distinct. The pop scenechanged — the fans' love of story songs in the early '70sgave way to mindless disco beats — and Flack refused to blowwith the prevailing winds. She remains an unmistakabletalent at this point in her three-decade career preciselybecause she didn't try to become a disco queen (a la PattiLabelle) or a private dancer (a la Tina Turner). Flack was,is and forever will be a balladeer.

That's not to say she hasn't dabbled. Her last album,1995's "Roberta," opened with a kind of rap, and she'stinkered with jazz singing, but Flack endures as a vocalistwho lures the simple, shining joy out of a ballad, fromthose first two smash hits to her chart-topping duet withPeabo Bryson, "Tonight I Celebrate My Love." She sings songsthat tell tales — timeless ones.

"I got started at the time people were really into songsthat told stories," Flack said in our conversation. "That wasa really good time, the early '70s. Even rock 'n' rollartists, country and R&B artists — and this is when thosedivisions were really clear — they were all trying to domusic that told stories. It wasn't necessarily aonce-upon-a-time story, but something people could connectto, some personal experience they'd been through. Theexciting part about being a musician is recognizing thatwhen you're on stage, when someone connects with whatyou're singing about, and you just watch them change.

"But everything has its season, and things changed.Except me. The disco thing was next, and I'm not stupidenough to hang in with that. I'm perfectly satisfied tosing a beautiful ballad." The process of choosingballads sometimes is subject to whim or instinct. Flacksaid she looks for ineffable concepts like "gorgeousness,effect, meaning" in a song before she tackles it, with anemphasis on that last one: meaning.

"I have to think that somebody other than me is going tounderstand it," she said. "I don't want to sing and entertainmyself, or provide just therapy for myself. I want to besharing my feelings. I make sure I'm picking a song thatspeaks to experiences and attitudes and moments in all ofour lives."

Still, the meaning Flack may find in a song can be,well, unique. "Killing Me Softly" is a lyric written aboutthe songs of Don McLean (telescope that notion through theFugees' version and see what you get!), but Flack said shesung it because it reminded her of someone close. Plus, theface she had in mind when recording "The First Time" in 1969was small and, well, furry.

"At the moment I recorded that, I was singing to a littlecat," Flack said. "It sounds cornball, but it's true. I'dnever had a cat before, and my manager had just given meone. I named it Sancho. About the time I got him was when Igot the chance to go to New York and record demos for thatfirst album ... In those two days, I recorded between 35and 40 songs live. (Not long after) I got back, Sanchodied. Then, three or four weeks later, when I recorded thealbum, I was thinking about little Sancho, that cute littlefunny-looking, scrawny cat."

In concert, Flack said she tries to gauge thetemperament of her audience and chooses songs to fit thatperceived mood. Set lists vary from night to night whenshe's on the road (the Tulsa shows are specialengagements). She's been known to nix "The First Time" infavor of, say, John Lennon's "Imagine," because "the youngkids today" might identify with Lennon more readily than herown signature work.

Those same young kids are still driving record sales,and Flack's perceived distance from them is why she thinksshe's without a record deal at the moment. Not that ittroubles her greatly — she's looking, but she's got time andoptions, she said — but she recognizes that she's notalone.

"A lot of us don't have deals now — those of us who singthose story songs well. There's just not a place for us inthe scheme of things. "We're not doing hip-hop, and ifyou're not doing what sells," Flack said, "you're not goingto be doing."

These online "clips" reproduce a self-selection of my journalism (music etc) during the last 20+ years. It's a lotta stuff, but it only scratches the surface. I do not currently possess the time or resources to digitize the whole body of work. These posts are simply a bunch of pretty great days at the office.